Spelter furnace



D. B. JONES SPELTER FURNACE Mar. 27, 1923.

II I II I l lk Original Filed June 5, 1918 Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID B. JONES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO METALLURGICAL LAIBQRA- TOBIES, INC., OF CHICAGO, ILLINQIS,A COBRORATION OF ILLIlfIO IS.

SPELTER FURNACE.

.Original application filedjlune 22, 1914, Serial No. 846,466. Divided and this application filed June. 3,

1918, Serial No..237,867.

To all whom it may concern: Be it knownthat I, DAVID B. JoNEs, a citizen .of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,-have invented certain new and use: e11 Improvements in ,Spelter Furnaces, of .ivhichthe following is a specification.

The resent application is a division of an app lication,,Serial No. 846,466, filed June22, 1.914(rehewed June 20, 1918,,Ser1al =No. 239,920), upon which Patent No. 1,292,330 was granted tofine January 21, 1919. Said patent relatesfto amethod of (treating .zinc'ore, which .method briefiy 15 described hereinafter in connect on with "my ,ini'proved fiirnace in which 1t 1s .emplayed. I have also shown; and described hereinafter in connection with my ,furnace a new form .of .briquette which is particiularlyvadapted for usetherein and which 1S claimed in an application No. 237,868, .filed of even date herewith, patented May 9, 1922, Not 1,415,094. Generally speaklng, the new method of treating zlnc ores in which the invention' constituting the subject-matterof this application is employed consists in forming spherical or rounded loriq uettes of the zinc ,orIother vore being.

treated and a reducing agent, and rolling them through the furnace, preferably by vgravity the floor of the furnace being in- ,clined for this purpose and the briquettes introduced at the higher end .of the furnace and removed or discharged from the lower end, there being preferably .a con- .tinuouscs'eries of briquettes from the upper to the-lower end of the furnace so that as those which have experienced suificient treatment are removedfresh briquettes may be added to the upper end of the series. The briquettes are heated in the furnace to a temperature suflicient to drive off the con- ;tained metal. .The atmosphere of the fur- .nace is maintained oxidizing so that as the ,metal is vaporized it is oxidized, and the oxid or fume carried away and separated from the air in any well-known ,or satis- ,factorylmanner. /Vhile the furnace which forms the subject mattcr of this application is particularly designed and adapted .for usein the process justdescribed, it will be obvious 2' from the following specification thatit is adapted alsoin certain of itsfeautures foroth er purpqseaand therefore while jha-a sheen and de c ib tli rr e Renewed October 6, 1922.

, including its hearth, roof a-nd sidewalls, is built'onan incl ne, the angle being such as a d a as 12 Serial No. 592,844.

from theprior art so far as known tofme, without, however, relinquishing or abandoning any portion or featurethereof. v

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, Fig. lis a longitudinal vertical section of a furnaceembodyingmy invention; Fig. 2 a transverse vertical section 'thereofon the line ;2-2of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a transverse sect-ionof an inclined plane on the line ,33 of Fig. l, and Fig. 4- a central sectionthrough one of the briquettes for the treatment'of which my furnace is more particularly designed. Each part is identified wherever ,it may occur throughoutthe several viewsflbyfthe same reference character.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the furnace,

to ensure that thebriquetteswhenuinsupported at the lower end of the hearth. will move by gravity in the direction thereof. The hearth is formed of a series of'lon'gitudinal walls orfpiers A spaced slightly apart and maintained \in spaced relationby bricks a interposed at suitable intervals between saidpiers. Theupper edges of the walls or piers are cliamfered ,as sho wn in Fig. 2 ,so that each pair of, adjacent'piers forms a guide, trough or runway down which they spherical briquettes B nay travel toward the discharge end of the furnace. These ,piers or. walls, as well as ,the. roof, side and end walls inay be made of .any fof .the usual refractory materials .employedin furnaces. In the construction shown in :the

drawings the runways. so formedarefnine in ,number and at the upper end .of ,eachflthe.

wall of the furnace is provided with ,a.chargoration ofthe furnace .the lowermost lori-- quette is discharged as soon asitihad sufficientheat treatment to l practicallyldrive oil the contained zinc,a w..briquette.being pipe for each chamber arranged adjacent each other. Upon one side of the furnace and extending longitudinally thereof is an air i 3e F for su 1 in the transverse erv forated pipes with air and on the other side of the furnace is a longitudinal pipe I G connected to some suitable source of fuel gas for supplying the pipes G therewith. The

i; air pipe might be connected immediately to some source of air, but preferably the air suppliedthereto is preheated. This may be done as in the specific form of invention illustrated in the drawing, by constructing a chamber E at the lower end of the furnace into which the briquettes are received from the furnace after they have been highly heated. The air pipe F is connected to this chamber and a fan F supplies air to the chamber where it is highly heated by the briquettes contained therein before passing to the pipe F.

I also maintain a highly oxidizing atmosphere in the furnace so that the zinc as it is volatilized is converted into the oxid in "which form it is conveyed out of the furnace and collected. In order to furnish an adequate supply of highly heated air for this I purpose the chamber E is connected to the furnace chamber by an elbow pipe E, the

. flow of air through which is controlled by a valve E From the upper end of the furnace leads a flue or conduit I which is convnected to any suitable or well-known means for collecting zinc'fumes or oxid. The heat edair is driven continuously from the chamber E through the furnace, oxidizing the vaporized zinc and conveving it away as above described.

The zinc ore to be treated is made into briquettes B which preferably consist of a core or main body of a mixture of Zinc. ore and reducing agent, such as powdered coal, with an inert binder such as'bauxite or other clayey material, these ingredients being mixed with water in order to aglutinate them and then moldedunder high pressure into spherical form. The briquette is then covered with a relatively thin coating of refractory material such as fire clay which "may be applied in the form of a slip. The

into the furnace. 'complished either after the tire clay slip has been applied or the briquettes may be dried briquettes are slowly and thoroughly dried to drive'olf all water before being introduced The drying may be acbefore the covering is applied and then [again dried after such application. Preferablya temp erature in excess of 225 is employed, it being desirable, however, to keep the temperature so low that the briquettes will not be disintegrated by the evolut on of steam. r

' I' claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a heating chamber, a sole or hearth of which is composed of spaced 'longitudinally'extending walls the upper --edges of which form guides for the material to be treated, and means for discharging heated gases into the spaces between said walls.

2. In a device of the class described, a heating chamber, a floor or sole therefor formed of a series of vertical walls extend ing longitudinally of the chamber the tops of the walls'being inclined fromend to end of the furnace and openings adjacent the upper and lower ends of said walls for charging and discharging the chamber and means for discharging heated gases into the space between said walls.

3. In a device of the class described, a heating chamber, a series of spaced longitudinally extending walls forming the sole thereof and means for discharging heated gases into the spaces, between said walls.

4. In a device of the class described, a heating chamber, a series of spaced longi tudinally extending walls constituting the hearth or sole thereof, there being transverse chambers extending through said Walls, and means for supplying said chambers with gas and air to support combustion. p 5. Ina device of the class described, a heating chamber, a series of vertical walls the tops of which are longitudinally inclined spaced apart laterally of the furnace andv contituting the sole or' hearth thereof, the upper edges of said walls being chamfered, openings in the upper and lower ends respectively of the furnace in register with the spaces between said walls for introducing the material .to be treated to the hearth, and means for supplying heated gases to the spaces between said walls.

6. In a device of the class described, a heating chamber, an inclined hearth i'n'said chamber, charging openings at the upper end ofsaid chamber, discharge openings at the lower end thereof, a storage chamber into which the material tobe treatedis'discharged from said chamber, means for introducing air into said storage chamber,

burners for heating the heating chamber and conduits for supplying said burners with heated air from the storagech'amber.

7. In a device of the class described, a

heating chamber, a hearth in said chamber, charging openings at one end of said hearth, discharge openings at the other end of said hearth, a storage chamber into which said discharge openings lead, burners for heating the heating chamber, means for supplying said burners with gas, a fan for forcing air into said storage chamber and pipes for conducting the heated air from said storage chamber to the burners.

8. In adevice of the class described, a heating chamber, a hearth in said chamber, charging openings at one end of said hearth, discharge openings at the other end of said hearth, a storage chamber into which a said discharge openings lead, burners for heating the heating chamber, means for supplying said burners With gas, a fan for forcing air into said storage chamber and a conduit for conveying the heated air from said storage chamber to the heating chamher.

9. In a device of the class described, an inclined heating chamber, a hearth having openings extending substantially longitudinally thereof for supplying heating gas to the chamber, burners communicating with said openings, charging openings at one end of said chamber and discharge openings at the other end of said chamber, a storage chamber with which said discharge openings communicate, means for supplying said storage chamber with air and means for conducting said air from the storage chamber to the heating chamber and to said burners.

DAVID B. JONES. 

